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Thursday, January 30, 2014

The Latest On CM Punk's WWE Departure

CM Punk has been removed from WWE events going forward after reportedly informing Vince McMahon at Monday’s RAW that he was going home. Punk reportedly told Vince and other WWE officials this in a meeting before the show went on the air.

While Punk vs. Triple H was planned for WrestleMania XXX, word now is that Triple H will be facing Daniel Bryan in New Orleans this April.

While Punk is under contract through July, he is no longer factored into company plans. According to one source, the original script for Monday’s RAW had Punk losing to Antonio Cesaro after Kane interfered, allowing Cesaro to qualify for the Elimination Chamber. Another source denies that and says Punk was never scheduled to wrestle Monday night and was only scheduled for an in-ring promo at Kane. Punk was not backstage during RAW and was not at SmackDown last night. It’s believed that the late RAW re-write at 6pm on Monday was because Punk had just informed officials he was going home and wouldn’t be back.

Punk leaving is being described as a situation where he’s unhappy and burnt out with the overall direction of the company. There’s also a feeling among wrestlers that Punk has saved his money and just doesn’t need it any more, even the big WrestleMania payday that was coming up.

Following the Royal Rumble on Sunday, Punk’s mood was described as “pissy” but that’s not an unusual description of Punk’s demeanor backstage. One source believed that since Punk’s last goal was to work a WrestleMania main event, it may be a situation where he realized it wasn’t going to happen this year and with his WWE deal expiring in July, that may have weighed down upon him because he was so goal driven and this was one he couldn’t accomplish because of elements that were outside of his control.